An Edinburgh man was arrested and a home condemned after police found the house he was living in with three children and his elderly mother covered in filth and the roof caving in.
Charles A. Foriest, 47, 512 Fulford Drive, Edinburgh, was arrested on three charges of neglect of a dependent, non-support of a parent, reckless possession of paraphernalia with a prior conviction and possession of an injection device, according to an Edinburgh police report.
Police first responded to the house on Monday when they received a report of a woman and infant living in a shed behind it.
Investigators obtained a search warrant for the house on Tuesday, a police report said.
Inside, investigators found the carpet to be black and slick where it hadn’t been cleaned in a long time, fresh animal feces on the living room floor, trash piled up to four feet deep in the bedrooms, dirty, moldy dishes stacked high in the sink as well as on the floor, table, countertops and gas stove and partially eaten, spoiled food in the refrigerator, the report said.
“I saw no food that could be eaten by dog or human,” one officer said in the report.
The bathroom facilities weren’t working, but it was still being used. Fecal matter and used toilet paper were scattered throughout the bathroom. There were spiderwebs in the bathtub and sink and the floor was like walking on dirt, the report said.
In the elderly woman’s bedroom, used Kleenex’s were piled up the wall — some torn where mice had made nests in them. There was mice droppings in her bed. She wears an oxygen tube, uses a walker and is not in good health, the report said.
Foriest’s bedroom, which was once a one-car garage, was clean and neat, the report said. But officers found used meth pipes, several syringes and marijuana cigarettes next to his bed, the report said.
Officers saw no insects in Foriest’s bedroom except spiders, they said.
Foriest told investigators he had not worked in about a year, but was not disabled.
Staff at Edinburgh Elementary School told officers they had washed one of the child’s clothes and cleaned him up several times. Teachers said the child frequently wore dirty clothes that were too small and old worn shoes that no longer fit.
The child would often come to school smelling of cigarettes and body odor and the Department of Child Services had been notified, they told officers.
The Johnson County Health Department declared the house uninhabitable and condemned it, the report said.
Child welfare caseworkers took the children and placed them in foster care. The elderly woman was taken to an emergency room to be examined before she was placed in family care, the report said.
Foriest is being held at the Johnson County jail on $2,400 bond.
